A Day in the Afterlife
by Ruiner of Worlds
Summary: When Lydia got older, Delia began to put more pressure on her to be "normal". This may have driven her truely insane if not for her best friend Beetlejuice.


Lydia glumly threw down her backpack and flopped onto her bed, staring at the ceiling. "Hi BJ," she said in a dull tone to the ghost in her mirror.

"Don't sound so happy to see me," Beetlejuice said, trying to cheer his fried up, even though he had yet to figure out what was wrong.

"Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice," she summoned.

He appeared floating in her room next to her bed. "So… bad day?" he guessed.

"Delia's going to drive me to an early grave," Lydia muttered, rolling onto her stomach so that her face was buried in the pillow.

"Well, then you could come over more!" Beetlejuice said, once again attempting to cheer her up. When she didn't give so much as a chuckle, he realized that perhaps it was worse than he thought. He paused, trying to figure out what to do next. Usually he had no trouble cheering her up. "What happened?" he finally said.

"Where do I start? She's still upset I'm not her, for one. She hates the clothes I picked out for senior pictures. I don't know why she doesn't just pick them herself. After all, it is for her. I don't even want the dumb things."

"Cheer up, Lyds. In less than a year you'll be outta this place and she won't be able to tell you what to do."

"Not as much, anyway," Lydia muttered.

"Huh? You said once you were eighteen…"

"Unfortunately, if I still want her help getting through college…" Lydia trailed off.

"Oh. Well, you're a genius! With that and your photography, picking up enough scholarships to get a free ride will be a piece of cake!" he said. As he said it, a piece of moldy cake appeared in his hand. "Want some?" he said, offering the beetle entrusted pastry to Lydia.

She pulled her head up long enough to make a face at the cake before flopping back down.

Beetlejuice shrugged. "More for me!" he said happily.

"Beej, I appreciate the sentiment, but we both know I'm no genius, and scholarships for photography are hard to come by, and even harder to get."

He paused, looking at her. "You sure it's just your Delia that's bothering ya?" he asked. She'd been in arguments with her step-mother many times before, but he'd never seen her this upset over it. Something else must be bugging her too…

Lydia rolled onto her side so that she was facing him. "I dunno…" she muttered, not meeting his eyes.

"How can you not know?" he half teased. "Unless…. Boy trouble?"

Lydia's cheeks pinked. "Of course not. Don't be ridiculous."

Beetlejuice had to laugh. "You know you're a horrible liar, and yet you try it anyway."

Lydia folded her arms and pouted, knowing she'd been defeated. "I dunno if I'd really call it boy trouble… but my Delia's attempts at setting me up with people have just been getting more and more… desperate. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if those guys were actually my type…"

"I didn't think you HAD a type, babes," Beetlejuice commented, biting into his cake. "What is it?" he asked, curious.

"Well…" Lydia stopped, chuckling. "Why am I even having this conversation with you?"

Beetlejuice shrugged, smirking. "Maybe you could just go out on one date with one of these guys. Just to shut your mom up."

Lydia shot him an odd look, questioning what little sanity she felt her ghoulish friend had.

"What?" asked Beetlejuice, wondering where he had slipped up.

Lydia sighed. "Where do I begin? I'd rather face Delia than go on a date with some guy I hardly know and definitely don't have feelings for. And even if I did do that, my mom wouldn't be satisfied until I was going steady with someone. Besides…"

"Besides…?"

Lydia shook her head dismissively. "Nothing."

"But I wanna know!" he whined, floating down so that he kneeled next to her bed.

"I told you it's nothing," she said, sitting up.

"I don't believe you. How many times are you gonna lie to me today, babes?" he teased.

Lydia chuckled. "Oh, because you NEVER lie, right?"

"Not to you….anymore. C'mon, what is it? You can tell me!"

"No I can't," she said, her cheeks reddening.

Beetlejuice tried a ploy that had worked on more than one occasion. "You have feelings for someone else?" he said, saying something that was so off that Lydia would blurt out the right answer.

"No," she said firmly, her face reddening.

Beetlejuice realized with dismay that he his wild guess had been right. For once in his afterlife he could not think of a witty retort, so he merely shrugged it off.

Before the silence had a chance to become awkward, Delia called Lydia from downstairs. At the sound of her name, Lydia whimpered pitifully and buried her face in her pillow. "Why can't she leave me alone…?" she muttered dejectedly into the pillow. Beetlejuice jumped as Lydia screamed into the pillow.

"Lydia?" Delia repeated, this time sounding much closer to the door. Lydia made a growling noise and pulled herself off the bed. "Coming…" she said miserably, exiting the room and closing the door behind her.

Beetlejuice was left to consider the information Lydia had given him, or rather, tried _not_ to give him. "So, Lydia has a love interest, does she…?" he thought aloud. He wondered whom. He was familiar with most of her friends, having found ways to sneak into Lydia's school and workplace in various disguises. She didn't have that many guy friends except himself and the guys at the photography studio she worked at.

Well, he hadn't visited her in school for a couple weeks. She could have met someone in that time… But wouldn't she have at least mentioned him?

Beetlejuice sighed. He had no idea who this guy was, but he had one really good guess as to who it _wasn't._

Within a few minutes, Lydia walked back into the room, closing the door behind her. "She's taking me shopping again…" she said quietly.

"Ouch."

"Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice," she said, sending him back.

Notes: Well, tell me what you think. It was designed as a one-shot, but it can be more if a lot of people think it's worth continuing. But be warned: I have no ideas. Thanks always.


End file.
